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United States Patent DRAW BDX ROLL SETTING MECHANISM Thomas W. Wilson, McCormick, S. C., assignor to The Terrell Machine Company, Charlotte, N. (3., a corporation of North Carolina Application August 15, 1950, Serial No. 179,414

8 Claims. (Cl. 19-134) This invention relates to drawing rolls employed for elongating, evening, and reducing slivers of textile fibers preparatory to spinning and twisting the same into yarn, and in particular to mechanical roll setting means employed to adjust or regulate the distance between the successive pairs of rolls so as to suit the roll setting to the different lengths of staple that may be used. While the principles of the invention are applicable to all cases in which drawing rolls are used, as in drawing frames, lap machines, roving and spinning frames, such principles are especially adapted for use in the draw boxes of combing machines.

The conventional manner of mounting the roll sup ports or bearing members in which the corresponding ends of each pair of drawing rolls in a set of drawing rolls are carried, by bolting them to fixed supports forming parts of the draw box or roll stand, with the support slotted or otherwise permitting manual adjustment of the roll supports to vary the roll setting, re quires considerable skill, practice, and experience, consumes a substantial amount of time, and leaves opportunity for errors impairing the quality of the product. An important factor is the necessity of maintaining a high degree of parallelism between the successive pairs of rolls, not only to insure identical fiber control at both ends of each pair of rolls, but also to permit the use of rugged and accurate bearing construction at the ends of the drawing rolls, such as will not tolerate misalignment of the roll supports at the two ends of a given roll. This parallelism is also requisite to the alignment and proper meshing of the gears and pinions normally used to drive the rolls.

While numerous attempts have been made to provide mechanical linkages for moving the roll pairs of roving and spinning frames nearer to or farther from each other to effect the roll setting, they have left room for improvement, a common reason being because they did not satisfy the necessity of maintaining independence of movement of the successive pairs of rolls with respect to each other, that is, permitting adjustments of the position of individual roll pairs without disturbing the setting of other pairs of rolls. Further drawbacks in the proposed constructions included lack of the necessary provisions for keeping the successive roll pairs parallel to each other, and for holding the individual pairs of rolls rigidly in adjusted position so as to maintain the setting under vibration and other operating stresses to which they are subjected.

With the object of providing a roll setting mechanism which shall meet these requirements and obviate the disadvantages of prior structures proposed for the same purpose, I have devised a structure capable of being readily manufactured which besides being very rugged and compact achieves such simplicity of adjustment that even an inexperienced operator should be able to make the proper roll settings with ease and accuracy and without danger of damage to rolls, bearings, drive gears, and other associated parts. Further, this construction is suited for draw boxes having any desired number of pairs of rolls.

The aims of the invention are achieved generally by providing a draw box having at least one pair of op posed rolls mounted in moving mounting means or roll supports, with guides for directing their movement which latter is effected and controlled in magnitude by a pinion engaging a rack on the roll. supports. Both inexpensive and rugged construction is provided by preferably making the pinion from a single shaft having flutes cut therein to serve as teeth and serving both roll supports of a given pair of rolls, such shaft being rotatably mounted in a hole extending through the frame member from one of its said parallel sides to the other. Thus both roll supports of a pair of rolls are constrained to move simultaneously and equally toward or from the adjacent pair of rolls. Clamping means for fixing the pair of roll supports in adjusted position preferably comprises elementally a bolt moving with the roll supports and clamping them simultaneously tightly against the parallel sides of the intervening frame member by equal pressure applied to each roll support.

Other objects of the invention, and the manner of their attainment, are as made plain hereinafter.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a draw box with its side cover plate partially cut away to more clearly illustrate the construction.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the draw box with some members shown in cross section.

Referring to the drawings, the draw box 10 has a roll stand comprised by a rectangular frame member 12 adapted by threaded holes 14 for bolting to a suit able base (not shown). The frame member 12 may be of cast construction having a cored center aperture 16. The sides 18 of the frame member 12 are provided with smooth parallel outside surfaces 20 and grooves 22 of rectangular cross section running lengthwise of the sides 18. These parallel surfaces 2i) and the grooves 22 form the guiding surfaces for roll supports 39 which carry the pairs of opposed drawing rolls 68, 70, when the roll supports are being moved to change the roll setting, and the roll supports are clamped against the surfaces 29 when adjustment has been completed and operation of the draw box is to be resumed. This clamping is effected by bolt members 26, which move with the roll supports. Located at midwidth of the recesses 22 are elongated openings or slots 24 accommodating lateral movement of the bolt members 26 which extend therethrough, and also through holes 28 in each pair of roll supports 30. A T-shaped shoulder or head 32on one end of each bolt member 26 (Fig. 2) bears against the outside surface of one of each pair of roll supports Bill and is slidably fitted in a slot 34 in a side cover plate 36, thereby preventing the bolt member 26 from rotating. The other end of each bolt member 26 has a threaded portion 38 (Fig. 2) on which is screwed a nut 4i) with a neck 42 fitting through an elongated opening or slot 44 in a second side cover plate 46 (shown partly cut away in Fig. 1) and bearing against the outside surface of the other roll support 30 of a pair. The nut 40 has been removed from bolt member 26, shown at the left in Fig. 1, for clarity. By turning nut 40 as with a wrench in one direction, the simple bolt member construction just described achieves rapid locking of both members of a pair of roll supports 30 supporting a given pair of drawing rolls against the sides 18 of frame member 12. By turning the nut 40 in the other direction such pair of roll supports 30 may be rapidly The roll supports 30 are provided with projections or tongues 48 slidably fitted in the grooves 22 thereby providing a tongue and groove guiding arrangement for directing the movement of the roll supports in a single straight line without rotation and ever parallel to themselves, without tilting forward or backward.

To move the roll supports 30, the bottom end of each of the roll supports has formed thereon a rack 50 running parallel to the guided movement of the roll supports. The racks of each pair of supports 30 are in engaging relation with pinions 52 formed on cylindrical pinion members 54 which are rotatively mounted in holes 56 in sides 18 of the frame member 12 provided for that purpose. Axial movement of the pinion members 54 is prevented by collars 58 (Fig. 2) fixed thereto as by set screws 60 so as to hold the collars 58 against the inside surfaces of the sides 18 of the frame member 12.

One end of each pinion member 54 projects through a hole 62 in the side plate 46 and has facets 64 formed thereon for accommodating a wrench or crank (not shown) for rotating the pinion member 54.

This construction achieves extreme simplicity for adjusting the position of any pair of roll supports 30. To make a desired adjustment it is merely necessary to turn nut 40 to release the selected pair of roll supports 30 from the sides 18 of the frame member 12, and then turn the pinion member 54 as explained above so as to cause the pair of roll supports 30 to move in the desired direction. Pinions 52 insure equal movement of both members of a pair of mounting members 30 which together with the tongue and groove guide structure insures proper alignment of said pair at all times. When the desired adjustment is made, proper locking is again easily and rapidly insured by the simple expedient of a turn on the nut 40. Thus even an inexperienced worker may perform this heretofore meticulous adjusting operation. Where adjustments for known staple length are made, corresponding gauge blocks may be inserted in usual manner in the spaces between adjoining roll supports and the pinion member 54 rotated in the proper direction until the sides of the particular roll supports involved touch the gauges, at which point proper adjustment is reached and the roll supports may be locked in position.

It should be noted here that the above construction permits adjustment of any pair of roll supports 30 for a cooperating pair of rolls without in any way disturbing other pairs of roll supports in the draw box.

Each pair of roll supports 30 has mounted thereon in antifriction bearings, as ball bearing sets 66, a bottom roll 68 and a top roll 70. The ball bearing sets 66 for the bottom rolls 68 are immovably mounted in holes for that purpose in the roll supports, and the rolls 68 have shaft extensions 72 for receiving the customary driving gears (not shown) locked thereto as by keys 74. The bearing sets 66 for the top rolls 70 are mounted in bearing blocks 76 which are constrained to move in only a vertical direction by yoke extensions 78 at the upper ends of the roll mounting members. The top rolls 70 are weighted through the support blocks 76 as by a system of levers 80 responsive to the loading of a spring 82, forming no part of the present invention.

In the. present embodiment the pair of roll supports 84 at the front or delivery end of the draw box and shown at the extreme right in Fig. 1 are immovably fixed by being bolted to the frame member 12 by Allen head screws 86 (Fig. 1). While only two pairs of adjustable roll mounting members 30 are provided in the present embodiment the same construction as described above may be used for providing a draw box 4 having any desired number of adjustable roll supports 30.

An under-clearer 93 having a fabric wiping surface 94 is pressed against rolls 68 by springs 96 to prevent collection of lint on the rolls.

This invention is not limited to the particular details of construction herein described, since equivalents will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that the invention be limited only by the appended claims which are to be given a broad interpretation commensurate with the scope of the invention within the art.

What I claim is:

1. Roll setting means for drawing rolls comprising in combination a plurality of pairs of rolls for drawing textile fibers, movable roll mounting means supporting at least one pair of said rolls, guide means for directing the movement of said mounting means, a rack on said mounting means, a pinion engaging said rack for controlling said movement, and means for moving such mounting means axially of the rolls into clamping relation with the guide means.

2. Roll setting means for drawing rolls comprising in combination a plurality of pairs of rolls for drawing textile fibers, a pair of movable roll supports supporting at least one pair of said rolls, guide means intervening between the members of a pair of supports for directing the movement of said supports, a rack on each of said supports, a pinion engaging each of said racks for effecting said movement, and means for draw ing such mounting members toward each other into clamping relation with the guide means.

3. In a draw box of the type having a plurality of pairs of rolls for drawing textile fibers, a pair of movable roll supports supporting at least one pair of said rolls, guide means for directing the movement of said supports toward and away from an adjoining pair of said rolls, a rack on each of said supports extending in the direction of said movement, a pinion engaging both of said racks for controlling the magnitude of said movement, and means acting simultaneously on both members of the pair of roll supports forcing them into clamping relation with the guide means.

4. In a draw box of the type having a plurality of pairs of rolls fordrawing textile fibers, a frame member having surfaces of at least two sides parallel to each other, a roll support at each of said sides, a pair of said rolls mounted on said supports, guide means at the surfaces of said frame member for directing movement of said supports toward and away from an adjoining pair of said rolls, a rack on each of said supports extending in the direction of said movement, a pinion engaging both said racks for controlling the magnitude of said movement, and means for clamping said mounting members immovably in place against such sides of the intervening frame member.

5. In a draw box of the type having a plurality of pairs of rolls for drawing textile fibers, a frame member having outside surfaces of at least two sides parallel to each other, aroll support at each of said sides, a pair of said rolls mounted on said supports, guide means at said parallel surfaces for directing movement of said supports toward and away from an adjoining pair of said rolls, and a bolt member arranged to move with said supports and adapted to force bothof said supports firmly against said frame member thereby locking said supports immovably in place on said frame member.

6. In a draw box of the type having a plurality of pairs of rolls for drawing textile fibers, a frame member having outside surfaces of at least two sides parallel to each other, and an elongated opening extending from one outside surface of such member to the other, a roll mounting member at each of said sides, a pair of such rolls mounted on the mounting members, tongue and groove guide means at the parallel surfaces of the frame member for directing movement of the mounting members toward and away from an adjoining pair of said rolls, a bolt member fitted through the mounting membets and adapted to move with the mounting members and in the elongated opening in said frame member, the belt having a shoulder at one end in non-rotative engagement with one of the mounting members and a threaded portion at the other end, and a nut on the threaded portion cooperating with the shoulder to force the mounting members against the said surfaces of the frame member.

7. Roll setting means for drawing rolls comprising in combination a plurality of pairs of opposed fiberdrawing rolls, movable supports for the opposite ends of a pair of rolls, a roll stand having a portion intervening between the said movable supports, and means forcing the roll supports toward each other to clamp against the intervening portion of the roll stand.

8. Roll setting means for drawing rolls comprising in combination a plurality of pairs of opposed fiber-drawing rolls, movable supports for the opposite ends of a pair of rolls, a roll stand having a portion intervening between the said movable supports, mechanical means propelling the roll stands to and from adjacent pairs of rolls, and means forcing the roll supports toward each other to clamp against the intervening portion of the roll stand.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 408,275 Tweedale Aug. 6, 1889 442,764 Brennan Dec. 16, 1890 571,264 Culver Nov. 10, 1896 1,514,253 Forrest Nov. 4, 1924 1,597,193 Hartley Aug. 24, 1926 1,711,092 Hartley Apr. 30, 1929 2,490,544 Robinson Dec. 9, 1949 2,503,858 Waterworth Apr. 11, 1950 

